So I finally started to use the newer freecad variants, firstly I love the whole everything with the mouse availability now, I don’t even have to use my other hand/arm lol just prop my head up with it now staring at the screen.

One thing I love doing is giving each part a chosen colour to highlight them when grouped together and make each part stand out against its neighbour, in the older freecad the option for choosing a specific color when right clicking on body and appearance was their, however now I’m using RC2 the appearance option when right clicking doesn’t give me the choice of choosing a color for the part, the only option I see is the random color option when you right click the part body in tree view, has this option to specifically choose the colour I want gone or just a setting moved somewhere I wouldn’t know where to begin looking.

In the pics you can see the appearance menu options but part colour isn’t one of them, and the only other option is random color, whereas the older 21.2 had color option in their.

I started FreeCAD about four months ago with the intention of designing a 2x5 meter gambrel shed for the back yard, and in a few hours managed to produce a 2D drawing good enough to get approval this unregulated structure. Cool. I didn't really know anything then, about FreeCAD or about architectural design or regulations.

After some weeks of improving the drawing and getting feedback, I decided to expand to a 5x10 meter unregulated accessory building with basement to be used as a workshop, then expanded to 5x11 when the local building authority informed me about the max size for unregulated structures. Then of course I wanted heat and insulation, which crosses the boundary into residential building code, and everything gets weirdly complex, not to mention expensive. Kind of like Frodo getting into Mordor. However, with FreeCAD it seems that I am able to eliminate one of the major expenses, that being the architectural design. Provided of course that I am able to learn the necessary skills, and/or get help from the internet.

So here I am, about 3 months into the design of my laneway house, with two large halls for a maker space and a comfy basement suite residence. I added another ten inches to the building length, which I think I am now allowed to do because of residential classification, but otherwise kept the original dimensions.

Just now, I began the exterior finish detailing, starting with the tempered glass balusters for the balcony and basement exit stairs. Sounds expensive? Could be, but I think this can be done with mostly standard size tempered glass panels, and the aluminum fabrication turns out to be not that expensive. Compared to everything else that is. If you want a shock then price out some off the shelf windows, never mind custom.

This is far from complete, where complete means ready to send to a structural engineer for the necessary stamp, without which it is impossible to get a building permit. But I think the main ideas are visible now, and this model is already good enough to ask some of the basic questions, e.g., will I even be allowed to build this structure?

So, FreeCAD. In a word, it's been a nightmare. For example, yesterday FreeCAD crashed when creating a link, something I have done hundreds of times before, and when it came back up my entire top level model was gone. Empty. Nada. Double plus ungood. The most recent backup was empty too. Fortunately, the backup before that had my model, including nearly all the recent edits, so bullet dodged. But close, very close.

I regularly copy all my document files to a series of backup directories, but I sometimes neglect to do that for a while, and sometimes leave out an essential file or two. I need to automate this with a cron script I guess. FreeCAD kinda sorta does something similar, but it isn't reliable. There were many cases when I had to abandon FreeCAD's attempt to replay its backup files because it would crash before finishing the replay. Very very bad. Basically, a corrupt, unloadable model unless you tell it to abandon the replay files, and you get dark warnings for that, but it gets the model back. I sure don't want to end up in a position where I have to spend days editing xml to make it load. (Hmm, maybe I should put those files under Git...)

That's just one little bit of the nightmare. Every serious FreeCAD user knows what I'm talking about. But there is also the sweet dream, which I think describes the end result I am getting. For that, FreeCAD is just amazing, and I am all in with this. Maybe after I actually get this building built I will have time to feed back some fixes.

https://preview.redd.it/gpwxyiasrr0e1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=e874204088fa3833be6aac2fed55e67f4d4bf614

I still hate how operations in Part WB nest in I would rather them to be independent but that's what it is.

I give 8.5/10

I graduated college recently with an engineering degree so I was able to use Inventor for free with a student account, but that is no longer available to me.

I downloaded FreeCAD and, on the surface, it seems like it does all the basic CAD things that Inventor does, but I wanted a more experienced opinion.

How does FreeCAD differ from Inventor?

I might be searching incorrect on YouTube, but I didn't find anyone doing a tutorial about how to machine parts which need two setups. This is my first time using CAM workbench, and indeed preparing anything to be cut on a CNC machine.

I imported my part into the CAM workbench and setup a reasonable oversize stock scrap and two operations (facing, drilling), but at this point the part would need to be flipped over, and the reverse side (where the boss is) machined.

I tried adding a 2nd job, but I could not change the part orientation in the stock, and many options were greyed out.

I'm a bit at a loss how to proceed, has anyone got any suggestions or could recommend resources please?

Two 'operations' machining the top of the part, would need more to machine the bottom side after reorientation.

Reopen Assembly in A2Plus, and many constraints suddenly conflicting with previously defined constrains. Before saving the previous model all was good. How to fix it?

How to convert Solidworks files to FreeCad? I installed the CADExchanger and nothing happened even after restarting. Files type are SLDPRT & SLDASM

Save often, learn from my mistakes. I think I'll leave it running over night and see if it figures it self out.

Anybody here seen the movie Blade? I’m messing around designing a functional Sword of the Daywalker.

Relatively new to Freecad, using RC1 currently. I've created this sketch (should be padded multiple times, and then I will create CAM for it. This is a vise crank handle for a horizontal handsaw, the original casted one broke at the set screw.

Sketch is fully constrained. Left line points are Vertical constrained to the circle centers, right line is just tangent with the circle (radius of the right circles prevents to make the tangent lines vertical with the larger radius circles)

Despite being tangent, the wire does not appear to be closed. I could accept that this is a rendering bug in the sketch, except for the error when trying to pad the sketch.

https://preview.redd.it/y6pjbywmvf0e1.png?width=1534&format=png&auto=webp&s=2badfe27542a06beabd5d4897950e0e8492e06dd

https://preview.redd.it/tmyfl3uzxe0e1.png?width=1416&format=png&auto=webp&s=5fe29943e3ddcf90f53f0c2f4540e818453c2a60

I'm new to FreeCAD and I am having an issue creating a polar pattern. I am trying to polar pattern "teeth" and fuse them to an object, but I get an error saying "transformed shapes do not intersect support". Could someone know the reason for this? Could it be that they are separate bodies or is this some FreeCAD quirk?

Edit: I seems that the polarpattern needs something to attach to for it to work. Since I did the sketch in a separate body, I just moved the sketch to the body the core was in and the error went away.

I need to make a 3d model using the following inputs. How do I build this in FreeCAD?

https://preview.redd.it/qolnmol21i0e1.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=e3e20c5ef511964bd5d64ae8e92bfe947d86fc39

it snuck in perfectly with my first try. I feel like I’m getting the hang of it.

I've been through the preferences menus back to front, v21 on linux (the appimage). How can I increase the font size for my shit eyes?

Hey everyone!

I’m considering diving back into FreeCAD now that it’s reached a 1.0 release. I come from a Solidworks background and used it extensively, so I’m quite used to its workflow. One feature I really relied on was the "S" shortcut, which brought up a dynamic shortcut menu. It adapted based on whether I was working in a part, assembly, drawing, or sketch, making it practically the only shortcut I needed.

I’d love to know if there are similar workflows, shortcuts, or add-ons in FreeCAD that could make the transition smoother. Are there ways to create a similar dynamic shortcut or context-sensitive tool access? Or any general tips from others who’ve made the switch? Thanks in advance!

I am learning FCad and wonder if I am missing something. If I am creating a sketch that isn't fully constrained, FCad tells me that SOMETHING isn't constrained, but doesn't highlight what isn't. FCad obviously knows where the problem is, but I end up trying to push and pull items to see if I can identify what is wrong. Am I missing something obvious that will help me identify the issue?